Painter who caught the eye of tourists and high-end clients

John Kinyua is passionate about drawing. As a Standard Two pupil in 1978, he would draw maps which were used as teaching aids in school, he told Money.

His teachers soon recognised his talent. “While other pupils went for manual work on Fridays, I used to repaint labels on doors, maps, and that is how I perfected my skill”.

Before long his paintings started going to exhibitions.

In secondary school, however, his skill landed him in trouble. One day, he got punished for sketching his history teacher.

However, many years later, that skill would earn him a contract from a team of judges who asked him to draw the portrait of then Chief Justice Evans Gicheru as his send-off gift.

Today the director of Gitu Sons Art and Design says he specialises in drawing portraits, landscapes, biblical paintings, and graffiti on T-shirts.

He recently found a new art — painting cakes from his wife’s bakery.

Mr Kinyua used to make Sh6,000 a day from painting in the early 1990s while in Mombasa, where he started his business.

His customers pay Sh5,000 for a framed picture measuring 16x11 inches and up to Sh35,000 for the largest measuring 36x24. Others pay as much as Sh70,000 for a piece of his work.

His reach is not just in Kenya as customers from Europe usually sent their pictures via email asking him to design their portraits.

To get it right, Mr Kinyua asks his customers specific questions, for instance, the colour of the wall where they would like to hang the portrait, the curtains, and the furniture in the room.

Asked about his training, he says: “At least there is something I picked up from the 8-4-4 system, where we were taught art and craft in primary school. I was not good in humanities but I did well in maths.”

Since his secondary school did not teach fine art, he took a course to complement his passion — construction and wood work: “That is where I learnt how to make frames,” he says.

After secondary school, Mr Kinyua went to Mombasa to live with his three siblings, who were working in hotels. It is here that he started making sketches which his siblings took to the hotels. The customers, especially tourists, bought them.

He would earn Sh200 from a painting, which gave him the impetus to make painting a full-time career. Determined, he set out on a learning expedition.

“I went around town to see what other painters were doing. Some chased me away.”

At one point, unable to afford paint, brush, and canvas, he pulled down his brother’s window curtain and turned it into a canvas.

As his work continued to catch the eye of tourists from Nairobi and abroad, he teamed up with his high school friend and started a company.

In 1993, Unga Feeds Limited contracted him to draw the art on its annual calendars, the logos on its packages, and send-off gifts for retiring staff. The miller also saw him exhibit his art at the Mombasa annual agricultural show for seven years.

“My parents laughed about painting as a full-time job, but one day while still with Unga Feeds I surprised them by paying a whole year’s fees for my two younger sisters.”

In 2000, due to changes in Unga Feeds, he took his work to Nyali Beach Hotel, where the management allowed him to sell his art. From the hotel, he realised that the bulk of his customers were from Nairobi and after nine years, he moved to the capital city, where he is now based.

He has opened an outlet in Nyeri town.